The Character of Christ

"Me and Hermana Nordfelt yesterday. We matched. On accident." :)

Hola! I hope everyone is doing well! Things are good here at the Provo MTC. I still really don't like the food, but that's ok. :)

On Thursday morning, I had to leave during class because I auditioned to play during one of the MTC devotionals. A friend that is here knew I play the violin and so he (Elder Tew) got me and a girl in his district together to talk. She had been looking for someone who could play violin so that they could do the song 'Savior, Redeemer of My Soul' which I happened to play at my farewell. :) And, I brought the music! The singer's name is Sister Christensen (she's going to Cambodia). She has a great voice! The pianist's name is Hermana Reynolds (she is going to the Texas McAllen Mission). We know each other because we went through the temple on the same day and knew that we'd meet in the MTC. So on Wednesday we practiced and on Thursday we auditioned. It was kind of scary because we did it in front of all of the wives of the MTC presidency. They were really nice though. And, we got in!!! We are going to be performing during the MTC devotional on this next Tuesday! We are so excited! 

Also, this week we got our other teacher, so now we have two! Along with Hermana Savage we have Hermana Boyce. She is fantastic! She went to Bolivia on her mission. Also, guess what, Hermana Boyce is...Jimena as well. I told you last week that Jimena was only an actress, but now she is also our teacher. (I really hope I explained this well.)

Ok, here's my update with Jimena (the fake investigator, not the teacher). On Thursday we taught Jimena and invited her to be baptized. She didn't say no, but she didn't understand why she needs to be baptized because when she was little she was baptized into our church. We tried to help her understand, but it was really hard. Finally we asked her to pray about it and pray to know what Heavenly Father would have her do. We haven't taught her since then, but we will tomorrow. I really hope that we can help her. 

Our other investigator, Mercedes, is doing well. Mercedes is a real investigator and so it's a lot more intimidating. But there is a quote that says, "If the church isn't true, the missionaries would have messed it up a long time ago." It helps me because I know that it isn't me that is teaching but, the Spirit. The second lesson we had with Mercedes, we just got to know her a bit more. We found out that she is just really interested in temples and eternal families. So the next time we went back we decided that we needed to teach her about the Restoration. I know that may not make sense, but we realized that we can't teach her about eternal families before we teach her what we really believe. The lesson went really well! We were telling her about how there is a cycle with the apostasies and restorations in the Bible. She knew that after Noah, there was an apostasy and it really made sense to her that there was a pattern. So, when we got to the Great Apostasy and the Restoration through Joseph Smith, she understood why that would need to be. The only thing she struggled with is how Joseph saw God and Christ face to face because she doesn't ever remember reading about that in the Bible. She also promised to pray to know of the truth and we were so happy! It really was a great lesson!

We also got a new investigator named Daniela (she is really our other teacher Hermana Savage). We will teach her today, so I really don't know much about her. We're excited to teach her though!

On Friday, Hermana Boyce was teaching us and she asked for a volunteer so, of course, I raised my hand. She was teaching us how to teach the Restoration (this was before we taught this lesson to Mercedes so this lesson really helped). It was amazing. I was the investigator and Hermana Boyce taught me. I made a character of sorts and she really tailored the lesson to me. She answered my questions and the Spirit was so strong as she taught. She made it simple to understand and, wow, it had a lot of power. She also testified of how much Heavenly Father loves me. I think that it is always good to be reminded of this. Her lesson was a real testament to me how simple the Gospel really is. When you look at the Gospel, it's so simple, but as you progress and look more deeply, it is also very intricate. That is why we can always be learning. It is amazing!

Sunday was amazing! Last Sunday was Fast Sunday so things were quite different. We had Relief Society with all of the sisters here at the MTC. We just had speakers, but they did a fantastic job. Then my zone got on a bus to go to west MTC campus for testing of the buildings there. We had Sacrament Meeting, I played the piano, and the talks were great. We also had District Meeting over there. It was the best District Meeting ever! We talked about faith and why it is so important and examples of demonstrations of faith. Some people shared experiences and others shared favorite scriptures. The Spirit was really strong and it helped our district become closer. It was fantastic! Then we had a devotional back on normal MTC campus about how service can change you inside and out. Then for the best part of the day. We were able to watch a video of a talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a few years ago entitled, The Character of Christ. Elder Bednar's whole talk was centered on how we can better come to know of Christ. Not about Christ, of Christ. There was no way that I could remember all that he said or even write down a portion, so I'll tell you what I remember. The biggest thing that hit me was what Christ's character is. Elder Bednar said that Christ's character is that whenever we, as humans, would normally turn inward and be selfish, self-serving, or self-absorbed, Christ would turn outward and serve. For example, after Christ had suffered in the Garden, he had just been through the hardest thing any person has ever been asked to do, his friends couldn't even stay awake for one hour with him, and then another friend betrayed him with a kiss, when Peter cut off the ear of one of the soldiers, Christ healed him. After all that had just happened to Christ, he didn't turn inward, he turned outward and healed the soldier. There are many examples of this in the scriptures. How amazing is our Savior! How I want to be like him! 

Monday was really sad. We had to say goodbye to one of our districts. They were leaving to Argentina. We really became close with some of these sisters and it was really hard to say goodbye. We are really excited for them as well! We know that they are going to do wonderful things!!! This morning we also had to say goodbye to the English speaking sisters in our room. We realized, again, that a mission is a whole series of hellos and goodbyes. And it's hard.

Something that I didn't say in my last letter was where everyone in my district is going. My companion, Hermana Nordfelt, is going to Argentina Córdoba as well. Hermana Pula is going to the Salt Lake Mission, Hermana Shelley is going to the Orlando, Florida Mission. Elders Stewart and Larsen are going to Córdoba Argentina, Elder Riding is going to Bahia Blanca, Argentina, and Elder Isaacson is going to Orlando, Florida.

A few days ago, our district was really struggling. We were tired, it seems like we've been here forever and it sometimes seems as though we'll never leave. We were having class with Hermana Savage and she stopped and let us talk. We released all of our frustrations and the things that are hard, like the food, the schedule, always being with someone, the language, missing home, and so on. But every time after we would say something negative, we would also say how we have never been happier though. We talked for a while about the fact that this is hard, this is demanding, but we truly have never been happier. While at home, I feel as though I was pretty happy. I'm a pretty happy person. But I did have bad days. Here, it's as though I only have bad hours. When something is really bugging me or I'm struggling. But the Spirit here is so amazing and it really buoys us up. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here!

I want you to know that I love you all! I hope that everything is going well with you! 

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

"All of the girls in my room. It was our goodbye picture with the English sister in the room."

"Name tags of the Hermanas in my district and a Preach My Gospel in Spanish."